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PREVIEW: Polygod

POLYGOD is a rogue like First Person Shooter which looks to brighten up the world by flinging a flurry of small bob shaped objects. Does it succeed in its ambition, or falls flat on its various made up playgrounds, let’s find out:

Status: Released

Developer: Amplify Games

Publisher: Amplify Games

Genre: Rogue-like FPS

Release date: 13 October, 2016

Type: Single Player, Multi-player

Gameplay:

POLYGOD reminds me of Lovely Planet and Rogue Legacy. It is a rogue like where each death sends you back to the start of the journey. Where Lovely Planet was a game where you had to remember each enemy placements and all the paths, POLYGOD mixes it up with a hint of randomness. You start out in a garden like place with a gun and some entities around you. From there, you travel to the world of Gaia where you kill various enemies and bosses to progress to the next world and then repeat till you beat the game. Now, why I mentioned that it was similar to rogue legacy was the fact that its randomization of worlds feel exactly like how castle rooms were randomized in Rogue Legacy. While initially it feels that there is a lot of variation every time around, slowly it starts to grow on you. You sense the levels were exactly same before with a random enemy placed or removed. It is not helped by the fact that it is quite linear in nature. Again, like Rogue Legacy, at times you might be given two paths at a point, but both of them will result in going at the same place. There is a false sense of direction and at times it feels as if some parts were far too empty than they should’ve been.

POLYGOD features an upgrade system which is fairly basic. You get souls from enemies every time you kill them, which in turn can give you favours at altars present at various paths. These upgrades enhance you in a way that there is no best choice. One upgrade might give you a very easy breeze through the normal enemies but will make it insanely more difficult against bosses and some will make it go vice versa. The shooting is pretty solid with the hitboxes being pretty consistent. There is an average variety of enemies which may pop out of anywhere and some seem to have a very good way of flanking you. They spin around, move towards you or randomly pop out to surprise you. They do a good job of making the game difficult. POLYGOD has a brutal difficulty and given that there are no benefits whatsoever of making progress and getting killed, aside from getting more skilled, it makes it a lot difficult for newcomers to the genre. As POLYGOD is in early access, it is very much prone to bugs and has a serious lack of content. There is a lack in variety of enemies as you pretty much get used to each one before long, same goes for bosses. Aside from a new world, there is nothing that pushes you to actually explore. Even the upgrade system feels a bit lacking with a very apparent lack in variety is shown right away. But what makes you keep coming back in a rogue like for one more session is its basic gameplay loop. And POLYGOD does it really well, where you don’t leave the game because you know you can do better the next time around (even when you get killed by the first swarm of enemies.) It does have that feel that you can just play it for a few rounds and then leave, casually which makes it quite rreplayable.

Visuals

Aesthetically POLYGOD seems very similar to Lovely planet. With colours popping out from every corner, though POLYGOD sports shinier and brighter visuals than the latter. While enemies are difficult to distinguish sometimes, it has a very soothing feel to it, which makes it lighter on the eyes. POLYGOD’s worlds are the ones that attract the most. With a pretty colour background which makes it liven up to its otherworldly enemies. Enemy designs are fairly basic and don’t surprise at all. Overall, it is light on eyes and features a colourful world.

Soundtrack:

POLYGOD’s soundtrack is a mixed bag. While its peaceful music is really good to hear and goes with the art design, the sound loop that pops up when an enemy is nearby is very annoying. You kill enemies, just to make the sounds go away and it could have been far better than it is right now. Everything else again is average. From the gun sounds to the sound of jumping. Everything is done neatly and well. If that annoying aggressive music was excluded, it would’ve been a very good music choice for the game.

Overall

Polygon is still in early access, which gives it a pass for having a lack of content but its gameplay loop is interesting enough to make you keep coming back. It does have its fair share of bugs and other issues, but it has a lot of potential. I will keep coming back to this game for the time being.